Pengal Santhippu (Women’s Gathering), a feminist group of Tamil speaking women – both Tamil and Muslim – based in Europe and North America have urged the government of Sri Lanka to respect the religious rights of minority communities and allow burials of the COVID infected dead.
A silent protest organised by Samagi Jana Balawegaya, against the forced cremation of Muslim COVID -19 deceased in Sri Lanka today – 23|12|2020
Issuing a statement on the forcible cremations of COVID-related deaths in Sri Lanka, the group demanded that the government of Sri Lanka refrain from discriminatory practices, do not seek to marginalise and isolate minority communities and respect and uphold their human rights.
We publish below the statement in full:
We at Pengal Santhippu express our outright condemnation of the inhumane, racist policy of the chauvinist government of Sri Lanka, which orders the mandatory cremation of Muslims who are believed to have died of COVID.
We offer our whole-hearted support and join in the countrywide white cloth-tying symbolic protests (Kafan), which demand that Muslims be allowed to observe the religious funerary rites.
The policy of forcible cremations of the dead from religious minorities who are believed to have died of a COVID virus infection, against their religious beliefs, is a deliberate breach of their human rights.
More than eighty Muslims have been forcibly cremated to date. Two babies who died days after their birth were also forcibly cremated without the consent of their parents. This has created a sense of deep sorrow and fear amongst the Muslim community.
The WHO and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have set out guidelines for standard operating procedures in disposing of dead bodies, which say that COVID-infected dead bodies can be either buried or cremated. They emphasise that the prescribed safety procedures can be observed during burials in accordance with the individual’s religious beliefs and that there is no risk of the virus spreading from dead bodies.
The government of Sri Lanka ignores this advice and with no scientific basis has mandated the cremation of bodies of suspected COVID deaths. This clearly exposes the deliberate policy of targeting the Muslim minority community by the government of Sri Lanka.
The eleven petitions made by affected families to the Supreme Court demanding the right to bury their dead have all been dismissed without any reason being given. This is clear evidence of the rapid politicisation of the judiciary in Sri Lanka in recent times.
The constitution of Sri Lanka states that while Buddhism is to be given the foremost place other religions also should be accorded due respect. However, the government’s racist policies and actions threaten the good will and relations of co-existence between communities in our pluralist nation.
We extend our sympathy to our brothers and sisters who are not able to carry out the last rites for their loved ones in accordance with their religious beliefs. We partake in their sorrow and offer solace.
· We demand that the government of Sri Lanka respect the religious rights of minority communities and allow burials of the COVID infected dead.
· We demand that the government of Sri Lanka refrain from discriminatory practices, do not seek to marginalise and isolate minority communities and respect and uphold their human rights.
We shall raise our unified voices, as Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and Malay – all citizens of our pluralist nation, and as people who understand and shield one another and against the oppression of any amongst us.
sitrep24 / December 23, 2020
How is it that we’re in December and these moda sinhala buddhists are still doing this lowlife racist policies ?? Does it make the moda SBs and thug hamuduru happy to see innocent people suffering ?? I know that jealousy, racism and envy run in the veins of these racist SBs, but this level of inhumanity? Sickening to see, to think I ever considered myself to be from the same country as these heartless excuses for people. I have never encountered such dirty racist hearts in any people as much as the filth and racism I’ve seen among the racist sinhala buddhists. Absolutely disgusting.
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May the Lord of Jesus Christ punish these racist sinhala buddhists who oppress people like this.
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Alpha / December 23, 2020
Please don’t blame the people down the line including the Health Minister. They are all forced to submit to the will of the one who dictates from the top.
The expert committee are just puppets dancing to the dictates.
It is said that at Cabinet meetings not one Minister opens his mouth.
everything is dictated and passed without a hum.
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Eagle Eye / December 24, 2020
sitrep24,
Lord of Jesus Christ has punished Sinhala Buddhists for saving ungrateful Demala Muslim refugees from Hindusthan without allowing the Portuguese to finish the job they started.
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If the descendants of Demala Tamils or Muslims who came from Hindusthan and sought refuge in the Land of Sinhalayo and Vedda Eththo feel that they are oppressed by Sinhala Buddhists why the hell they want to hang on in this country without returning to the paradise from where their ancestors came. Sinhalayo did not invite Demala Tamils or Muslims to Sinhale. These people begged Sinhala Buddhists to allow them to stay in this country and kind-hearted Sinhala Buddhists gave them citizenship without attaching any conditions. Sinhala Buddhists should have put *Conditions Apply.
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chiv / December 26, 2020
Do you have any pani on pipe line for next pandemic called hunger, poverty and misery. Or is it going to be the same remedy for all your problems. Evil Eagle try it for your ED problems , Rajapaksas are calling it a miracle.
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Eagle Eye / December 24, 2020
sitrep24,
If Muslim suicide bombers whose body get burnt down can go to Heaven and have fun with Angels why the people who are cremated cannot go to Heaven?
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soma / December 24, 2020
I asked the Lord Jesus Christ the same thing. He said, please keep me away, take your request to Allah or a local agent like Kali.
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Soma
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Eagle Eye / December 23, 2020
Will they allow Muslim dead bodies to be buried in Yapanaya?
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Tamil from the north / December 23, 2020
Eagle ‘stupid as a bat’ Eye, we in Canada bury, cremate and liquify the dead. Liquification is a new method not well known yet. Anyway SL is a developing country for the past 100 years with no end in sight, is more right than developed countries? Idiot, remove the veil of racism from your eyes and think intelligently. Oh well intelligence and thinking are remote to you anyway, so just think, can you at least do that? When you die, the virus dies with you. Hence there is no spread of the virus, you stupid little man, go and read a few science books and try to understand.
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soma / December 24, 2020
Tamil from North
“Will they allow Muslim dead bodies to be buried in Yapanaya?
was the question idiot.
Answer the question or refrain from commenting.
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Soma
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Tamil from the north / December 25, 2020
Soma appu, where you bury is irrelevant. You stupid little weasel only sees things through the lens of racism. Dumb loser, get a life.
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Kanapathy Varunan / December 23, 2020
Yes, if they are from Jaffna or even from elsewhere. Have yo forgotten the fact that a a corpse a Hamuduru was burnt at the Jaffna Esplanade—-‘Muthaveli’ despite protest and another Cancerous hamuduru was burnt at the Hindu temple premises despite court order against it, at Mullaiteevu.?
‘Eagle eye! not only your eye sight, even your brain seem to malfunction. Pity.
There was an article sometimes back under the caption ” Burning of a Cancerous body of a Bhikkhu’ in the Colombo Telegraph
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Kanapathy Varunan / December 23, 2020
The article referred to above was published on24/9/19.
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Eagle Eye / December 24, 2020
Kanapathy Varunan,
“Yes, if they are from Jaffna or even from elsewhere.”
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That is not what some Demala Tamil politicians from Vavunia said. They said no burial of Corona infected dead bodies in the North.
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“a corpse a Hamuduru was burnt at the Jaffna Esplanade”
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This is the Land of Sinhalayo and Vedda Eththo. They can cremate or bury dead bodies in any place in their country. No need to seek permission from foreign people who settled down in their country and talk about a bogus ‘Traditional Homeland’.
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Native Vedda / December 24, 2020
Eagle Brain Dead Blind Eye
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“This is the Land of Sinhalayo and Vedda Eththo.”
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No kidding!!!
Who are these Sinhalayo?
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There is no such people.
Go find your people in South India.
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Native Vedda / December 24, 2020
Eagle Brain Dead Blind Eye
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“They can cremate or bury dead bodies in any place in their country. “
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Do you s**t where you cook, eat and sleep?
No wonder you are born with s**t in your head, mouth, stomach, ………. keep your head inside HLD M’s …………..
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Kanapathy Varunan / December 24, 2020
WHY DON’T YOU BURY THEM IN YOUR BACK YARD?
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Rajash / December 24, 2020
Will they…
who is the they?
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Jamal / December 24, 2020
Where are the Muslim residents of Jaffna being buried now?
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Buddhist1 / December 23, 2020
Where are the Muslim Feminist groups? Where are the Catholic and Christian Feminist Groups? Where are the Hindu Priests? Where are the Mullahs? Are they all sleeping at home? Where are the youth of this country? Where are the University students? Why are they not out protesting? Its time all youth and females in the society should actively participate in these protests.
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Eagle Eye / December 24, 2020
Buddhist1,
Why should these people waste their time to protest for a problem created by few ‘Moda’ Muslims?
Even Wahhabi Muslim extremists who want to follow Quran to the letter have not raised objections to cremation of Muslims infected with Corona.
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Buddhist1 / December 24, 2020
Eagle Eye, the countries where Wahabism is practiced are all dictatorships and people have no authority to protest. Sri Lanka is not a dictatorship (not sure of it) its a Democracy, so people have the right to protest. Why should they not bury?
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sitrep24 / December 24, 2020
Hi ee,
Lol ‘moda’ is reserved for the insecure sinhalayo who think they are oppressed while they enjoy special rights not granted to others in this unequal society.
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There is not one sentence in what you wrote that isn’t a lie. You are nothing but a shameless liar and I for one am glad that moda sinhalayo now have to resort to lying to try to push their racist policies. All the moda sinhalayo who comment about this matter lie so openly and shamelessly. Pathetic.
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Native Vedda / December 24, 2020
Eagle Brain Dead Blind Eye
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“Even Wahhabi Muslim extremists who want to follow Quran to the letter have not raised objections to cremation of Muslims infected with Corona.”
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The reason is that would give Gota and his Gundas the excuse to use PTA or White van to bury the Muslims alive all over the island, perhaps Hindian gifted Katchatheevu.
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soma / December 24, 2020
Where are you?
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Native Vedda / December 24, 2020
soman
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“Where are you?”
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Eagle Brain Dead Blind Eye can always be found under HLD M’s bum.
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Tamil from the north / December 25, 2020
soma appu, who are you looking for? Ali Babba and 40 thieves?
Answer: they are the ruling party and could be found in the parliament.
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Buddhist1 / December 23, 2020
One other point where are the other Muslim MPs?
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / December 23, 2020
Thank you.
Pengal Santhippu (Women’s Gathering), a feminist group of Tamil speaking women – both Tamil and Muslim – based in Europe and North America????
name and registration details please. Do they have website I could check tq.
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Kanapathy Varunan / December 24, 2020
Don’t look out for their website, read what the have said
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‘Alaia Parkathey Addathai Pa’r?
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Sunil Abeyratne / December 24, 2020
To the Editor,
“Refrain From Discriminatory Practices, Allow Burials Of Covid Infected Dead”: Tamil Speaking Feminist Group Tells Sri Lankan Government.
And to hell with those (includes Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims) who have no option other than to drink groundwater.
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sitrep24 / December 24, 2020
This ‘ground water’ arguement has been debunked as blatant lies by virologists and other scientists in the medical field. The facts are in and there is NO WAY coronarivus can growth inside a corpse or live in soil much less travel through the soil like some water snake to go looking for ground water to infect.
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Ineffective arguements and blatant lies brought to you by those who believe in ‘wanda pethi’ and ‘paniya beema’.
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Noel / December 24, 2020
IF WHO recommend cremations then we must do that for the greater good of all..
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sitrep24 / December 24, 2020
Expect that the WHO did NOT recommend it, ever. They simply stated that burials and other method of disposing bodies are possible with neither given preference over the other.
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At this stage when all the facts regarding this issue have been revealed, if the strategy of the moda sinhala buddhists are to blatantly lie to support their racist policies aimed at oppressing minorities; then it’s a good time to be on the side of truth.
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Buddhist1 / December 24, 2020
Its a strategic decision made by the Rajapakse Govt not to allow burial of Covid dead. Reasons, they know people with protest and the focus of the people would be on this and not on the major issues of Bond downgrade, economic calamity, cost of living, forged numbers in the budget, Govt killing in Prisons and Police stations and Police Custody, Covid spread, selling of assets to foreigners, no money to pay debt etc.
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Naman / December 24, 2020
Why should the dead take a piece of land. Lands should be for the use of the living. Covid or no Covid, it is right to cremate and the ashes return to the nature.
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Native Vedda / December 24, 2020
Noel
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“IF WHO recommend cremations then we must do that for the greater good of all..”
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Educating COVID bigots:
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Burial & Cremation of COVID-19 Victims – Heart Wrenching Pictures
https://www.news18.com/photogallery/world/burial-of-covid-19-victims-heart-wrenching-pictures-2575015-22.html
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chiv / December 26, 2020
Racist, selfish bigots who had open funeral procession in public for crooked Thonda , conduct an island wide elections amid peak of pandemic are now debating burial vs cremation. Your comments are as pathetic as the shit promoted in Lanka as an alternative to vaccine. Why don’t you guys drink your own invention and leave rest in peace . Beggars who cannot afford to get a single vaccine discussing here science behind burial vs cremation.
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Stanley / December 26, 2020
Denmark is digging up millions of buried, Covid infected Mink. They are to be incinerated. It is the surest way of preventing a catastrophe. Sri Lanka should ignore primitive superstitions and cremate all those who have died of Covid.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/covid-mink-killed-denmark-exhumed-incinerated-b1777073.html
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Sunil Abeyratne / December 27, 2020
Hello Stanley,
Thank you for the link!
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old codger / December 27, 2020
Sunil,
The fear is about water contamination by phosphorus and nitrogen from decaying mink bodies, NOT coronavirus.
“The two burial sites, which contain the animals, are by a bathing lake and by a source of drinking water. Residents have raised concerns around the potential contamination from the nitrogen and phosphorus gases produced by their decay, which have caused some of the animals to resurface”
In any case one can’t compare 4 million dead mink in mass graves with say 20 Muslims in individual widely scattered graves.
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Sunil Abeyratne / December 28, 2020
OC,
Yes I agree.
The process of incineration is expected to start once the virus is no longer present in the mink carcasses.
Thanks
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Sunil Abeyratne / December 28, 2020
OC,
I heard (unable to say this definitively because I am unable to provide evidence) that Vasudeva’s Ministry will be making recommendations on suitable locations where the water table is not high. Please do not hold me to it, but if this is true, then burials could take place at such locations.
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Punchi Point / December 29, 2020
“The work will only begin in May next year, when the risk of contamination of COVID-19 from the dead animals has been eliminated, the ministry said.”
“The macabre burial sites, guarded 24 hours a day to keep people and animals away, have drawn complaints from area residents about possible health risks”.
https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-denmark-mink-idINKBN28U0PQ
Lets see how this elimination functions. The minks were afterall not tested for COVID-19, only suspected. Nevertheless it is reasonable to assume that some of them were infected with mutated mink variant of SARS-Cov-2. Your claim “Even Denmark has no fear of viruses spreading through dead mink.” is false, since they are so scared of contracting Covid-19 from the dead mink, that they are guarding the place continuously and they are going to wait until May next year to dig up the minks. How they have calculated that the danger of SARS-Cov-2 from the dead mink will pass by May is not known, since nobody knows for certain how long this virus survives in different media and environments.
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sitrep24 / December 27, 2020
is this your arguement !?!? Do.you moda sinhala buddhist think we won’t open the link and read it !?
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If people read the article they will see that the issue in Denmark was because they buried too many monks in shallow graves that led to gasses building up from the rotting corpses that made them come out from the ground. Also there is no concern about the danger of coronavirus from these links infecting people.
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As I mentioned before, this is the issue with the moda sinhalayo, you read the headline and come to your own conclusion based on your grandiose delusion. Why don’t the moda sinhalayo worry about water snakes carrying clay pots and pani beema and leave the science to those who don’t have a brick for a brain. Don’t come here trying to force your kaali amma religion on people.
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sitrep24 / December 27, 2020
minks*
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although 15 million less saffron robed terrorist monks would do the world a lot of good.
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Siva Sankaran Sharma / December 26, 2020
All this utter rubbish .People should be allowed to cremate or bury their loved ones , according to their wishes or religious traditions. These Sinhalese Buddhist Nazis are now becoming out of control and think they can do anything as they have a war criminal racist Nazi at the helm. Burning and cremating racist rabid Buddhist priests inside the premises of Hindu temples with impunity and disobeying court orders, with the Sinhalese police and armed forces openly looking on the helping in the procedures in the north and now Muslim people denied the right to bury their loved ones according to their religious traditions , using the COVID crisis as an excuse to deny them this basic religious right . All this done in the name of Sinhalese Buddhism. What sort of religion or hate filled cult is this.
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chiv / December 26, 2020
Racist, selfish bigots who had open funeral procession in public for crooked Thonda , conduct an island wide elections amid peak of pandemic are now debating burial vs cremation. Your comments are as pathetic as the shit promoted in Lanka as an alternative to vaccine. Why don’t you guys drink your own invention and leave rest in peace . Beggars who cannot afford to get a single vaccine discussing here science behind burial vs cremation.
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sitrep24 / December 27, 2020
This comment encapsulates the idiocy of these moda racist sinhala buddhists. I will be sharing this comment to answer for the allegations by these moda sinhalayo who try to argue for forced cremation.
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chiv / December 26, 2020
Do you have any pani on pipe line for next pandemic called hunger, poverty and misery. Or is it going to be the same remedy for all your problems. Evil Eagle try it for your ED problems , Rajapaksas are calling it a miracle.
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Punchi Point / December 29, 2020
“More than eighty Muslims have been forcibly cremated to date.”
Out of total 184 Covid deaths (as pr 23.12.2020), over 80 are Muslim!
That is, over 45% of Covid deaths are Muslims.
That’s not counting Muslim corpses which have been frozen, which will bring the percentage even higher.
Muslims are just 9% of the population.
Burials should not be allowed. There’s absolutely no need to take the risks associated with depositing this deadly virus under the ground. Denmark is digging up millions of mink carcasses, due to probable groundwater contamination. Lets just hope this doesn’t happen to the over one million human corpses buried around the globe due to dubious unscientific advice by the notoriously unreliable WHO.
As for these Tamil women who are not Srilankans – please mind your business in your new countries. If you die of Covid-19 in Canada make sure your body is respectfully cremated, so that in the near future it might not be dug up to disinfect the soil to protect the groundwater and wildlife in Canada, that your body had contaminated.
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